Today's Starting Pitcher
Momentum is only as strong as today’s starting pitcher. End of story.
Oswalt was dominant. Mulder was up. Momentum or no, the Astros are still major league ballplayers. If you make bad pitches, they’ll make you pay. We couldn’t let them start feeling good, we did.
The Astros executed, the Cards didn’t.
By Houston there was the squeeze, Oswalt’s sacrifice (throw to third Mulder???), and then the hits to drive the runners in.
The Cards got their opportunity, which should have been a better one (damn umps) but didn’t get the key hit. Oswalt didn’t let them back up.
For the first time in this series, the Cards tried to rely on their non-Marquis bullpen for a significant number of innings. They didn’t have it in September, and they hadn’t found it in October.
Lousy bullpen. Errors in the outfield. Wild pitches. Really wild pitches. It wasn’t Cardinal baseball.
Even at our best, beating the Astros would have been tough. Pettitte, Clemens and Oswalt. Six out of seven games against that trio. When we let Backe baffle us for five plus innings, we were really in a hole. Too much of one, as it turned out.
Houston was built for a seven game series. Three dominant starters, and a fantastic closer. Two, maybe three decent bullpen guys and a handful of decent hitters. It’s a recipe for struggling during the regular season, but it’s a way to dominate in the post-season.
Look at the last two World Series winners. Boston and Florida both had dominating starters and a few good pen guys to ride all the way.
The Cards dominate the regular season because Suppan and Marquis are the best 4-5 starters in the NL. Thompson/Eldred/Flores are fantastic bottom of the pen guys. They’re barely needed in October.
That’s not to say the Cards should change approaches. They made the Series last year with a consistent team. The Angels won it the year before with a consistent team. They beat the Giants….another team of consistency. The thing about dominating starters, there aren’t that many out there. If you try to build a team around them, you first have to find them.
The Astros have three. That is usually enough. It was again this time.
There is plenty wrong with wild cards winning the series every year. There was plenty right about the Cards in 2005. There is plenty sad about missing Busch Stadium. They’ll be time to write about it all, and formally introduce this site, next week.
Thanks for reading, and thanks for a great year Cards.
posted by Union Commish @ 12:45 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
Tough to do a post mortum on the Cards this quickly but we need to get into the 'wait 'til next year' mode. To that end, there is reason for much optimism.
Who elevated their games for the playoffs? Pujols, Eckstein and, yes, Yadier, and they are all back. We should have power covered for next year with Pujols, Edmonds and Rolen. Pitching looks deeper than usual with Carpenter and Mulder at the top. Suspect they will bring Suppan and either Morris or Marquis back. Then there is Anthony Reyes who is a sane haberdasher away from being ready for the bigs.
What do we need? Corner outfielders and perhaps a 2B. I get the sense that Grud will be gone to 'greener' pastures but maybe Nunez could do the job.
Let me put in a pitch for two speedy, Taveres-type OFs. Then we push the fences in the new stadium back a few feet and play some running baseball. Speed kills and never slumps. It also generally means superior defense. It is also fun to watch. Image our '2' and '6' hitters stealing about 35-40 bases a piece. Sounds like a dangerous offense to me. It is also cheaper than making a run at Jeff Cirillo!!
Nice to know the Birds merely have to reload for another run at this thing thing next year. Go Jocketty.
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